Though he was scant on specifics, Cook suggested Apple could enable more types of payments with its fingerprint scanning technology – called Touch ID – which is now limited to App Store purchases.

We are seeing that people love being able to buy content, whether it’s music or movies or books, from their iPhone using Touch ID. It’s incredibly simple and easy and elegant and it’s clear there’s a lot of opportunity there. The mobile payment area in general is one that we’ve been intrigued with. That was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID. … You can tell by looking at the demographics of our customers and the amount of commerce that goes through iOS devices versus the competition that it’s a big opportunity.

That’s a different tone than one Cook took on this topic last year, when he told investors on a conference call that mobile-payment technology was “in its infancy.”